A teenage boy and his stepfather were on a hunting trip in rural Idaho when they spotted a plea for “HELP” etched in a dirt road that led them to a missing 19-year-old woman.
“We left the house thinking, ‘Hey, we’re going to hopefully see some deer,’” 15-year-old Ryle Gordon told KFBB.
What he and Chris Trumbich ended up seeing was far more significant.
“My stepfather and I were surprised and in shock when we saw the ‘Help’ sign in the road,” Ryle told ABC News.
The youngster remembered seeing a Facebook post a couple of days earlier from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office about Katie Ogle, who had multiple medical alerts, and the cognitive ability of a preteen.
Trumbich thought the sign might have been left by another hunter seeking assistance to carry deer carcasses.
But Ryle almost immediately thought of Ogle and told Trumbich that something “felt creepy,” KFBB reported. He snapped a picture of the sign in case it turned out to be something.
The two rushed off to alert a search team and guided them to the area.
“He (a rescuer) turns around and yells, ‘Hello?’ Then, we heard a ‘Hello’ over the ridge,” Trumbich said.
They followed the faint voice down a steep hill, where they found Ogle next to a sleeping bag in their family cabin. When they asked her what her name was, she answered, “Katie.”
“She looked very scared when she came out, like she was scared she was going to get in trouble, like we were going to yell at her for being in the cabin,” Ryle said.
Ogle, who was reported missing on Nov. 1, was taken to the Kootenai Health facility in relatively good condition, police said.
“Katie, if you’re watching this, we’re just happy you’re alive,” Ryle told the local TV station.
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